New Jack City on DVD (1991)

A good political message but otherwise substandard

supershari from Middlesex , 05/02/2005

When New Jack City first hit the cinemas in 1991 it was hailed as a beacon of light illuminating for everyone the injustices occurring in poor predominately black neighbourhoods in America. Politically it tried to make a good point and it was helped significantly by its Rap affiliations, not only in the soundtrack but also via its lead stars such as Ice T.

Looking back in hindsight, this film looks very dated and when we look beyond all the hype, the script and direction are both laughably substandard. I would call the Director, Mario Van Peebles, a one hit wonder, but this film is so poorly cut, the cinematography so hideous, the story so unrealistic, and the characters so cardboard-cut-out, that calling it a wonder is to do injustice to the action/crime/blaxploitation genre as a whole. I draw your attention to far more mature works such as Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) and Jungle Fever (1991) and Malcolm X (1992) and notably John Singleton’s, Boys in The Hood, also from 1991 as being far better examples of the genre.

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Entertaining

Imran from London , 06/09/2004

An entertaining but dated gansta flick starring the excellent Wesley Snipes as a hardnut drug crimelord and Ice-T as the maverick cop on his tail. The clothes are seriously old-skool as are the dance moves in the club scenes but watch out for the hilariously young Chris Rock doing a semi-serious turn. As it is it's well acted with some decent action but I was expecting Boyz n The Hood or Menace To Society but it's a different sort of film and in my view not as good.

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New Jack City Is Gritty And Real

Steve Macca from Merseyside , 02/08/2004

I like the pace at which the story in this movie was told. It's not blazing fast so you pick up on all the little things. The acting from all is done very well. Ice-T is a believable cop, I appericated how he wasn't shown as some perfect cop, but he wasn't bad either. He was human, which added to the realism. Westly Snipes delivers a stunning performance as Nino Brown. I think everyone should watch this movie and Sugar Hill back to back. Westly is great in both, and it's amazing how opposite the drug king pin character he plays really are in those 2 movies. New Jack City is gritty and real. And much like Scarface, you'll be left with a feeling of just how crazy life can be.

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Seems I have grown up since I last watched this

Andrew Smith from Lincoln, England , 05/09/2007

I remember this being the first 18 I watched in the cinema and as a middleclass white 14 year old from Berkshire the black crack dealers of New York were people I could easily identify with. As it happens I remember this film being a lot better than it actually is, unsurprisingly Ice-T is pretty wooden, Welsey Snipes plays a decent role but this is one of those films not worth revisiting, unless you can remain amused by early nineties bling for a whole hour and a half.

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A good political message but otherwise substandard

supershari from Middlesex , 05/02/2005

When New Jack City first hit the cinemas in 1991 it was hailed as a beacon of light illuminating for everyone the injustices occurring in poor predominately black neighbourhoods in America. Politically it tried to make a good point and it was helped significantly by its Rap affiliations, not only in the soundtrack but also via its lead stars such as Ice T.

Looking back in hindsight, this film looks very dated and when we look beyond all the hype, the script and direction are both laughably substandard. I would call the Director, Mario Van Peebles, a one hit wonder, but this film is so poorly cut, the cinematography so hideous, the story so unrealistic, and the characters so cardboard-cut-out, that calling it a wonder is to do injustice to the action/crime/blaxploitation genre as a whole. I draw your attention to far more mature works such as Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) and Jungle Fever (1991) and Malcolm X (1992) and notably John Singleton’s, Boys in The Hood, also from 1991 as being far better examples of the genre.

Read all highest rated reviews

New Jack City Is Gritty And Real

Steve Macca from Merseyside , 02/08/2004

I like the pace at which the story in this movie was told. It's not blazing fast so you pick up on all the little things. The acting from all is done very well. Ice-T is a believable cop, I appericated how he wasn't shown as some perfect cop, but he wasn't bad either. He was human, which added to the realism. Westly Snipes delivers a stunning performance as Nino Brown. I think everyone should watch this movie and Sugar Hill back to back. Westly is great in both, and it's amazing how opposite the drug king pin character he plays really are in those 2 movies. New Jack City is gritty and real. And much like Scarface, you'll be left with a feeling of just how crazy life can be.

Read all highest rated reviews